Posts Tagged ‘Alaska’

In middle school after my daily basketball practices I would find myself roaming the empty halls, waiting for my ride to pick me up. While strolling by the cafeteria I could still taste the crisp and cheesy pepperoni pizza the lunch lady served every Tuesday and Thursday, with a side of fries and an icee. Then I would recall the many conversations and confrontations my crew and I witnessed in the lunch room, from the girls revealing their crushes on my best friend and me to the time I almost fought this older kid Zach over a seat. When I walked past my locker I could hear the echoes of my classmates and friends that I followed around school — either Paul the pretty boy jock, Tom the soccer-playing rapper, or Willie the short-tempered gang member. All of these thoughts would run through my head as I walked through the school, but after I walked out the front doors, it would all disappear. That is when I learned that even when all of my friends are gone with our memories, life will still go on. I learned to lead instead of follow.

My middle school was located in the interior of Alaska — Fairbanks, Alaska. Covered with faded velvet red brick and a name sign at the entrance like any other middle school in America it seemed no different, but it was the outside environment that caused me to become just another rock broken by peer pressure instead of the great boulder we all can be. (more…)